Maverick
by Drakai
Summary: After getting Loki from Stuttgart the members of the as-of-yet-unformed Avengers, bar one brainwashed member, are sitting at the Helicarrier, when Director Fury throws them a curve-ball. Another member, one even Tony Stark had no idea was in the Initiative.


"So these are all the members from the 'First Response Team', huh?" Tony Stark looked around the table in the Helicarier's flight deck. On the left side of it was Rogers, the Star-Spangled Boy Wonder from WWII, on one of the chairs. Banner was leaning on another. He was a new friend. And a ginormous green rage monster at times, so that was kinda cool. Natalie Rushman, or was that Natasha Romanoff, or Natalya, or… he really didn't know anymore, was sitting on the opposite side tapping her long fingers on the table. Thor, the maybe-demigod, although he wouldn't necessarily admit to calling him that, was standing in front of the table with his arms crossed. The seat in the middle of the table was empty.

He turned to Fury, the one-eyed troll that organized everything there. He looked a little mad, even more than usual, which was kinda difficult to notice, since he always had the same face on. But Tony was a super genius, so he tended to notice things.

"No. Barton's still compromised." Tony noticed Natashlie, as he decided to call her until he could figure the damn woman out, flinch, but filed that away for later. "And there's also… _him._" Fury ground out the last word through his teeth.

"Ooh, _him_." Tony grinned at Fury's look. "Who's _him_?"

Fury sighed and threw a file on the table. It opened up and several pictures fell out. "Crack pilot. The best I've ever seen. Also the closest thing I've seen to a fully functioning lunatic. Complete disregard to safety protocols, distain for orders… Yet somehow managed to reach Colonel." He gave a page to Steve and continued. "Born in Japan, but immigrated to England when he was eight. At twenty he became a pilot for the US Air Force as a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School. He never answered why he didn't join the RAF." Steve passed the paper to Tony who just skimmed over it with a raised eyebrow and threw it back on the table, earning him a glare from Natashlie, who looked it over next. "He spent the next ten years being transferred from position to position, and earning recommendations and reports at each one. Then spent three years as an instructor at the NFWS, before being was promoted to full Colonel two years ago and stationed on an airplane carrier in Hawaii, before we assured his transfer."

"Any contact with the Japanese?" Rogers asked suspiciously.

"None. He kept in touch with two or three people in Britain, and another two or three here, but as far as we can tell no family." The Captain nodded but still made a note to observe the new guy.

"So when do we meet the guy that you dislike as much as Tony?" Bruce Banner spoke softly from his space. Tony looked almost offended at the thought.

"Soon. I have to warn you, though, he doesn't really… like uniform." He directed the last part at Captain Rogers.

"SO how good is he at this… Air Force?" Thor asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Air Force is a branch of the Military. It means he gets to fly planes." Steve helped the confused Asgardian.

"Fly? In those metal contraptions? Would it not be easier to simply…"

"Not everyone can whoosh around swinging a hammer, big guy. But seriously, Fury. How good?"

"If he wanted to… He could probably fly this Helicarrier all on his own."

"_Could?_ What the bloody hell'd you mean _could_?" Fury turned sharply around to find a man sitting cross-legged on the chair of one of the agents that were supposed to fly the Helicarrier, looking over the pictures that were in his folder. The agent assigned to that chair was sprawled next to it, clearly unconscious.

"Sir, we have been locked out of the controls." Another agent called from the side, running quickly from console to console, trying to fix the problems before they crashed. The man raised an eyebrow at the frantic agents and, rolling his eyes, hit a few buttons. The rest of the consoles jumped back to life and he got up from the chair, walking to Fury and the table.

"Dammit." The Director muttered to himself, fighting the urge to face palm.

"I'm bloody offended, Fury." His voice was thick with a British accent, but no trace of Japanese anywhere. Nor did he look it. Aside from a very slight slanting of the eyes, which most people wouldn't even notice. "Told you once before, fly anything with wings or a propeller, I could. Such little faith." He tutted at the man and closed the distance, walking past Fury and winking at Maria Hill, the man's glorified secretary, in Tony's humble opinion, and walked in front of the table, next to Thor. He was dressed in black slacks and shirt, buttoned up, except for the top two, showing off an emerald necklace, and the sleeves rolled above the shoulders. On the back and breast pocket of the shirt were wings emblazoned in a slightly lighter color that the fabric. He wore his rank on both shoulders, just like Tony had seen Rhodey wear on occasions. On his feet there were brown shoes, and he had black leather gloves on his hands. A black fedora hat over his short blond locks and long white scarf tied so it could flutter behind finished off the look. He had a small, confident grin on his face and a matchstick clenched between his teeth.

"The name's Naruto Namikaze, gents. At your service." He took a small bow. "But you can just call me Maverick."

"Instructor." In that one word Maria Hill had put in more emotion that since Tony had boarded the Carrier, and in fact, he suspected, in a long while.

"'Ello, Tiger." The blonde's grin got less sharp and a small measure of warmth seeped into his blue eyes. "Good t'see you again."

**Honestly, at first I didn't notice the similarities (only the name at the time) with this and Topgun (movie), but once I did I just ran with it.**

**Naruto will be speaking a mixture of British slang and Air Force jargon I got off the internet. Just wanted to remind everybody that I'm not a pilot. Never even went to the army, so there will be mistakes. And as for the pairings, the main one if obviously Naruto/Maria. I was also thinking Tony/Natasha, since I was saving Pepper for another crossover with the Cinematic Universe. And if there are enough votes, I'll squeeze in Thor/Jane, Bruce/Betty and maybe someone for cap. I never saw any of the three movies, though, so don't get your hopes up.**


End file.
